5 Ways to Increase The Speed of Your Website

5 Ways to Increase The Speed of Your Website

Yes, page load speed is included as a ranking factor in Google search results. Hubspot reports that "Even a one-second delay can drastically reduce pageviews, customer satisfaction and drop conversions." So, how do you know if your site speed is impacting how you show up in search results?

Step 1: Optimize Your Images. Many site developers add huge images to your site and then scale them down using CSS. The problem is that the large files are still loading on your site and maybe dramatically slowing down your site speed. TinyPNG is a free online tool tool that can reduce your image size without impacting image quality. Give it a try!

Step 2: Enable Browser Caching. It doesn't make sense to have visitors download the same things every time they visit a page. Enabling this allows you to temporarily store some data so they don't have to wait for it to load every time. Contact your hosting company to set this up.

Step 3: Enable Compression. Compression can reduce your page size and increase site speed. Contact your hosting company to set this up.

Step 4: Optimize CSS. CSS is the language for describing how your website looks, including colors, layout, and fonts. This content loads even before people see your site. The quicker this data uploads the sooner people will arrive at your site. You can use a free online service like CSS Minifier to minimize your files.

Step 5: Javascripts Below the Fold. If your Javascript files are before your content, they will load before your content does - slowing down your site. Place your external Javascript files at the bottom of your page before the close of your body tag.